Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Mark Carver wrote:
Still easily obtainable as they are shared with the pro BetaCam system.

Only the original Betacam oxide tapes (pre Betacam SP and therefore pre
1988) will work in domestic Betamax machines.

Indeed. Which is way I said BetaCam rather than BetaCam SP. But the tapes
are still available, or were last time I looked.

Ummm, I've just done some Googling and found the old BCT-20s still available
in the US, though I couldn't find any UK or European suppliers ?
I'll check tomorrow if Sony BC Europe still have it available this side of
the pond, if not the only way it would appear here is via 'grey' imports
from the US or Asia.

They're only any good for first generation Betacam kit (BVW-1 camcorders
BVW-40/35/20 VTRs) are people still using that stuff ? It's 20 years old now
.. Of course SP VTRs are downwardly compatible, but why would you want to ?

The SP/SX/DigiBeta/M50 tapes
are metal formulations. Magnetically they won't work, and mechanically
they'll damage the Betamax heads.

What about the last generation high band Betamax machines? I'd guess they
used metal tape?

Yep, everything from SP onwards. As did U-Matic SP (BVU-850/870 etc) from
1985 onwards. (U-Matic SP was developed primarily for Italy's RAI who at the
time wanted to continue down that road than jump to Betacam)


--
Mark
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